Astronomy

Observing Log for

Session Details


Durham

54.767, -1.574

10m

Notes

Equipment

Tags

Observations

Transit of Venus

For once it was an early start for the Astronomical Society. The majority of the Exec were on the Physics Department roof from around 5:30am, setting up the Meade ETX-90 telescopes, specially fitted with solar filters, ready for the mornings events. Unfortunately, as with all AstroSoc events the transit was largely obscured by cloud for most of Venus' six hour voyage across the Sun. When clear though, the sight was quite magnificent and (for those of us who will be staying in the northern hemisphere in 2012) a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We got a cumulative total of about 10 minutes live viewing of Venus through our telescopes. We also linked up to several European webcams, as well as watching the special BBC broadcast from Greenwich. Many thanks to the extraordinary number of people who turned up that made the event a success despite 100% cloud cover for much of the morning. Thanks especially go to Dr. Chadwick and Si Harris for arranging for the ETX-90 telescopes to be used.

Images